On Sunday May 20th, 2018 we had the great fortune to see Evgeny Kissin perform at Carnegie Hall.

The main course was the great Beethoven Hammerklavier (Sonata no. 29 Op. 106), and for dessert there was a hearty serving of Rachmaninov Preludes.

Beethoven’s Sonata No 29 (Hammerklavier)

The Hammerklavier can be a difficult listen. When Yuja Wang played it at Carnegie in 2016, I felt like I had over-eaten. But under Kissin’s hands on this Sunday afternoon in New York, the edgy tapestry of disparate voices came together as a thing of great beauty.

There was none of the overblown rubato that I have called Kissin out for in the past. Nor was this performance at all ascetic. Everything about his Hammerklavier was in perfect balance, leaving the audience in awe. I felt that we were in the presence of greatness.

Selected Preludes (Rachmaninov)

The program contained some 10 Rachmaninov preludes. You can’t go wrong with Kissin and Rachmaninov, in my opinion. Among my favorites was Opus 23 no 2 in B flat major. As to Opus 32 no. 10 in B minor, I felt that his tempo was so slow as to be risky, but it worked.

Kissin’s Encores

Kissin signed his CD for me

I like that Kissin announces his encores. Without this I would have not known the Scriabin or his own original composition. Rachmaninov’s C sharp minor prelude, however, needed no introduction. Here Kissin’s excellent YouTube recording.

I missed the last two encores because I stepped out early to get in line for the artist’s post-recital CD signing. There were far too many people in line for selfies, which was just as well after the marathon performance by Mr. Kissin. I was happy just to have my little piece of greatness to take home.

Rachmaninov Preludes and Etudes Tableaux

Yuja Wang opened her May 17th 2018 Carnegie recital with Rachmaninov’s Prelude in G Minor Op. 23 No. 5. Starting as a rousing march, this prelude erupts and transforms into an exotic fantasy. The march returns only to recede unexpectedly, as if everyone ran away.

In Yuja’s hands the opening tempo wavered, perhaps in anticipation of Rachmaninov’s cinematic legato or his final, self-deprecating wink. Her interpretation blended the contrasting sections well.

As with Ms. Wang’s 2016 Carnegie recital (reviewed here), the most enjoyable repertoire was at the beginning. I could feel Ms. Wang’s involvement with Rachmaninov, and wished for myself that she had not changed her program to include fewer preludes.

Scriabin, Sonata no. 10 Op. 70

This particular work does not do a lot for this reviewer, so I will not comment on it.

Ligeti Etudes

Before the Ligeti, someone came out to the Carnegie Steinway. At first we thought the piano had a glitch, but actually the gentleman positioned an iPad inside the piano so that Ms. Wang could sight-read. I can understand why memorizing these etudes could be a challenge, but Yuja was totally on top of this work and gave us an enchanting, virtuoso performance.

Prokofiev Sonata No. 8 in B flat major

The Carnegie program described Prokofiev’s Sonata as exhuding a sense of “peace, optimism and resilience”. While the opening has a certain serenity, my overall impression was of occasional major-key sunshine clouded by Prokofiev’s peculiar harmonies and manic rhythms. This was a demanding piece for performer and listener, but Yuja gave an epic rendition.

Seven Encores

In 2016, Yuja Wang played five encores at Carnegie. In 2018, she played seven. While the 2016 encores appeared to be chosen on the spur of the moment, the 2018 encores seemed more deliberate. Yuja traipsed off and on stage between each encore with minimal time spent acknowledging the audience, as if on a mission to cram in as much material as possible.

Fans like myself have heard various of Yuja’s Rondo Alla Turca and Carmen encores many times. This time she seemed a little ragged, but it was still immensely enjoyable, especially when she accelerated Mozart to a ridiculous speed.

Ms. Wang likes to close her encores with something reflective, and this time we got Schubert’s Gretchen am Spinnrade arr. Liszt. She sang silently while playing this. For me this was the peak of our evening with Yuja.

Yuja Wang Carnegie May 2018 (credit: Patti Turner)

Elegance and Excess

Yuja Wang came on stage in a breathtaking purple dress with skin-toned midriff. This drew wild cheers from the Carnegie audience. We expect such elegance from our cultural icons, of course.

Post-intermission Ms. Wang likes to wear something more revealing. I wonder if she realizes how hard it can be be hard to listen to her play when your view of the pianist is limited to whatever is showing under the piano.

Has Yuja Wang Grown Up?

There was more musical bite to Yuja’s 2018 program, but less spontaneity in the encores. The speed with which she raced through the encores, and the short steps she took due to high heels and tight clothing, made her look like a clockwork doll. Perhaps it was just the cumulative effect of months of touring, but to this reviewer it felt like Ms. Wang was drifting away from her audience. Has Yuja Wang grown up? Let’s hope not!

As a child I liked my small hands. They seemed appropriate for the son of writers. Marco Rubio‘s “if your hands are small we all know what else is small” exchange with Donald Trump was decades away.

Delicate hands

My mother told that me I had delicate hands. This became a metaphor for my life. Early in my career I had to fire someone. I could not do it, so I sat in my boss’s office to learn from a man with larger hands. But as he explained things to the unlucky employee, he stumbled verbally. He was as sensitive to the situation as I, large hands notwithstanding.

Large Hands, Small Hands

If having big hands doesn’t make life easier, then having small hands shouldn’t make it more difficult. Or so I thought, until I took up learning the piano. I was half a century past the age when our hands are pliable enough to adapt physically to the instrument.

Rachmaninov, Liszt

At my first piano lesson, I could with forethought play an octave (an eight-note spread). A ninth was uncomfortable and a tenth impossible. I bought the scores of my favorite Rachmaninov piano sonatas, but I had to abandon them because they contained chords that were too wide for my small hands. My dreams were shattered: I would never be able to wrap my fingers round the works of large-handed composers such as Liszt and Rachmaninov.

Virtual Hands

My teacher’s hands are tiny and yet she is a concert pianist, so I asked her about those tenths, those 6-note chords and those unreachable arpeggios. I learned that what is written may not be what is played, and the audience may not notice or may not care. You can omit a note from a chord. You can break or arpeggiate a chord to reach unreachable notes. Such techniques create the illusion that you have played what you cannot play, making your virtual hand larger than your real one.

Sleight Of Hand

It is one thing to be aware of such techniques, and quite another to brave a piece that requires sleight of hand. But I am becoming aware, as my second year as an adult beginner pianist comes to a close, that something has happened to my hands. Those octaves are now easy, and a 9-note spread such as those in Beethoven’s Moonlight first movement no longer leaves my right hand hurting for days. Rachmaninov remains a challenge, but ever since I saw this exquisite performance by Marijan Djuzel I have had my eye on Rachmaninov’s Prelude Opus 23 No. 10 (watch this video, it’s impressive).

Does playing the piano change your hands?

A couple of weeks ago I got to play Chopin in New York. In a photograph taken at the time, I noticed that my right hand looks different. This might just be an illusion caused by loose, warmed-up hands, but I prefer to see it as a Lamarckian response to the demands of the piano. My hands appear to have gotten larger.